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July 31, 2007
The iPhone bluetooth headset that I ordered the day I got the iPhone last month finally arrived. It's done with Apple's usual reverence for design. Starting with the packaging, this company certainly understands presentation. The effect seems more appropriate to jewelry than traditional consumer electronics. Setup is dead simple, too. Plug in the dual dock to a USB port. Insert the headset into the smaller opening where it attaches itself to the magsafe-like connector. Plug in your iPhone. Presto. The two are paired. No need to navigate menus or enter an easily-forgotten PIN. The headset itself is minimalist in the extreme. One button both toggles power and allows you to accept and end calls. That combined function was the only reason I had to check the manual. My first couple of calls wouldn't route to the headset. In fact, the phone application refused to acknowledge that the headset was present despite it being shown as paired on the bluetooth status screen. A bit sheepishly, I realized that you have to turn the thing on by pressing and holding the button for about 3 seconds until a rising tone sounds and the indicator light blinks green. The other nice touch is that the iPhone displays the headset's charge level onscreen when both are in the dock. Much better than having only an indicator light on the device itself. Other than that, the thing just works. Then again, I'm probably not a demanding headset user. I bought the thing primarily because of California's pending handsfree driving law. I certainly won't use it outside of the car. I may be a dork but I'm not going to be one of those twits who walks down the street wearing it and seemingly talking to myself.
11:19 PM
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Nothing to see here folks. Just a test. Move on.
10:16 PM
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July 29, 2007 We leave you this Sunday morning in an untamed corner of British Columbia in Canada… -- Charles Osgood, CBS Sunday Morning, July 29, 2007 Are Americans really so ignorant that CBS has to qualify British Columbia being in Canada? I am so sad.
09:25 PM
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July 20, 2007 Maybe I've been living under the proverbial rock but I just discovered IndieFeed. Really liking the alternative podcast. Got turned on to Los Campesinos! today. Can't stop playing You! Me! Dancing! Nice to be excited about new music again.
10:58 PM
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July 17, 2007
Finally got around to trying the widely-revered Ritual coffee today. Like the space it's in on Valencia. Nice vibe. Great graphics. Free WiFi even. The coffee itself? Huge disappointment. I like basic coffee. Unadorned. Strong. Very, very black. Unfortunately, Ritual's regular brew comes from a French press. I usually find that method produces a drink that's too watery for me. Sure enough, the cup I got this morning was weak. Wimpy. And worst, as it cooled, a distinct cereal aftertaste came forward. To me that's a sure sign that the beans weren't roasted deeply enough. Glad I tried something different but I have no intention of going back. I'll stick with the funny stand in the alley and/or the reliable locals.
11:37 PM
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July 14, 2007 Today marks the end of my first two weeks of living with the iPhone. Thought it might be a good time to post some notes, particularly since most mainstream reviews have blown it when attempting to describe the day-to-day with the device. For me, these writers either have been too dazzled by the interface and simply fawn over it. Or they've come across as hacks from the mobile phone world who hold up the list of current phone features and point out what the iPhone doesn't do. Just comparing the iPhone to a standard handset misses the point. Apple clearly is trying to change the rules in the mobile arena, just as they remade the music field with iPod. As someone who views the US cellular phone business and its conventions with contempt, that's probably the single most exciting aspect of the iPhone. Before I dive in, let me explain a bit about how I've approached this project and how I plan to proceed. I've immersed myself into iPhone land by watching the various tutorial videos from Apple and scouring sites for tips. More importantly, I've opened all the apps and tried every option or preference I can find. Not to document every aspect or write an authoritative how-to guide but always with the aim of adapting the device to my style. I'm also not attempting to post a finished piece in one fell swoop. I'll be adding sections and observations over the next few weeks. Maybe longer. Setup Like an iPod, most of the setup and management works best through your computer. Contacts, email accounts, music playlists all get sucked from your Mac or PC then synchronized each time you dock the phone. And frankly, you're best off just forgetting about managing them on the iPhone. If you want to group contacts, setup photo albums or playlists, do it on your computer. Those kinds of things are easier when you've got a real keyboard, mouse and big display anyway. Phone Simple options like call waiting have been nightmares on my previous handsets. Let's say I called my friend Bill and got his voice mail. Then while I'm leaving a message, Bill calls me back. I click over and chat for a couple of minutes then hang up--only to have the original call ring back through because it never got released. In contrast, the iPhone presents a unique set of buttons when a second call comes in. All the options are easy to see and the most common Hang Up and Take New Call is red. So intelligent. And it really shows the advantage of a touch screen interface. I was kind of astounded when I found a reviewer who dinged the iPhone for not having dedicated Call and End buttons. Why would you want old-fashioned dedicated buttons when soft ones make life so much easier? |
